Rare map of Flanders

Gerard Mercator would not begin his great Atlas or Cosmography until relatively late in life. The impetus for this came when he was employed as cosmographer to Duke William IV of Kleve, in 1563. Mercator’s intention was to produce a work that consisted of five books and encompassed the whole world. The first book would cover the creation; the second the heavens; the third geography; the fourth history; and the fifth chronology. He intended to draw all the maps, write all the text and cut all the plates himself. Unsurprisingly, the ambitious project would require more time than he could afford to give it, and he was only able to complete a few of the parts: the creation; the maps for Ptolemy’s Geographia — part of the geographical section — in 1578; and four of the modern parts. The first three were published together in 1585 and included France, the Low Countries, and Germany. The fourth part, of Italy, the Balkans, and Greece, appeared in 1589. Mercator died on December 2, 1594, leaving the responsibility for completion of the cosmography to his son Rumold. A number of maps still had to be engraved, and he employed various members of the Mercator family as engravers, including Gerard’s grandsons Gerard and Michel.